First published back in June of 2022, US authors A.W. Mason and Alana K. Drex’s chapbook ‘The Scampering’ formed the first chapbook in the Arrow Pig Chapbook Series.
Melinda despised squirrels with every inch of her being. Almost a year and a half ago, two of the mischievous little pests had darted out in front of her late husband’s car, causing him to lose control and crash. The accident had killed him. Moreover, the squirrels had killed him. At least that was how Melinda saw it.
Even after all this time had passed, she couldn’t move on from her hatred for squirrels. She did what she could to reap revenge on the furry little creatures. She laid traps around the countryside, tore down their delicate nests, and put up posters impersonating the Wildlife Department encouraging folk to take similar actions.
Better still, when she found a dead squirrel carcass by the roadside, Melinda would peel the roadkill off the tarmac, and then take it back home with her for an evening meal. Although she could never resist a quick nibble of the dead thing’s ear en route.
However, despite Melinda’s best efforts, the numbers of squirrels never seemed to lesson. In fact, if anything, there were more of the scurrying beasts than ever before. Their numbers worried Melinda. She detested the critters with all her heart. And with such a burning hatred, at some point, something had to give…
First off, although the chapbook cover boldly states “an extreme horror story”, this really isn’t anything like a piece of extreme horror. It’s more akin to a toned-down segment from James Hebert’s splatterpunk classic ‘The Rats’ (1974). A couple of mildly gruesome scenes, which are linked by a storyline about a widower’s burning hatred for the furry rodents.
Honestly, the plot is as simplistic and singular as the above synopsis suggests. It’s all about a woman’s mission to eradicate squirrels from around the outskirts of her town. This deep-rooted hatred stems from the death of her husband who’d died after crashing his car because of two of the critters. We’re presented with this horrific accident as an opening sequence to the story – basically akin to the car accident scene from the start of Neil Marshall’s ‘The Descent’ (2005).
What follows then is a snippet of Melinda’s war on the squirrel population. Of course, she’s gone a little schizo in doing all of this, with her maniacal vengeance turning to peeling up roadkill and consuming the carcasses.
This is all told in almost an outsider’s perspective. The anguish that’s inside of her, the irrational and dominating feelings that overwhelm her life, the complexities of her drive to maintain this obsessive war on the critters – all of this is only superficially touched upon. Only ever explored at a surface deep level.
Furthermore, the ending is really as you’d expect it to play out. If you’ve ever read a Hebert or Hutson novel, then you’ll find this basically paint-by-numbers ‘Creatures vs Mankind’ B-Movie horror. A fun and again, slightly gruesome finale, with no imaginative surprises up its sleeve, but nevertheless a suitably fitting ending to a relatively enjoyable read.
The chapbook runs for a total of 28 pages.
© DLS Reviews
